【By Observer Net, Qi Qian】
EU firmly supports Ukraine against Russia, but "the host family really has no grain left", finally decided to target Russian assets.
On October 21 local time, leaders of France, the UK, Germany and other European countries and the EU jointly announced that they are developing a plan to use the frozen Russian assets, which amount to $163 billion, to support Ukraine.
According to Reuters, on October 23, EU country leaders and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will hold a meeting on this issue. However, there is a clear difference between both sides on how to use these Russian assets: some European countries require that these funds be mainly used to purchase European-made weapons; but Ukraine strongly opposes restrictions, demanding autonomy in using the funds.
The report said that Ukraine is urging European countries not to limit its use of this large sum of Russian state assets. Ukraine argues that they need these funds to purchase non-European weapons from countries such as the United States, while also repairing war damage caused by Russian attacks and compensating victims.
A senior official of the Zelenskyy government told Reuters that Ukraine needs to get these funds by the end of the year and have autonomy over how to use them. Reuters noted that this is the first time Ukraine has publicly detailed its position.
Russia-Ukraine conflict continues, TASS
"Ukraine's position is that any conditions would undermine the principle of justice," said Iryna Mudra, chief legal advisor to the Zelenskyy government. "The people who must decide how to meet their most urgent defense, recovery and compensation needs must be the victims, not the donors or partners."
Mudra said that Ukraine supports cooperation with the European defense industry and is currently finalizing deals with Europe's largest industrial companies.
But she also said, "We insist on our autonomy in deciding how to allocate resources for defense. If European countries do not have sufficient defense production capacity, then we must have the possibility of purchasing weapons from other countries."
Reuters reported that American weapons such as the "Patriot" air defense system are crucial for Ukraine's defense.
After Trump took over the White House in January, he clearly stated there would be no new U.S. aid, forcing Europe to take on more burdens. With member states' financial conditions deteriorating, it has become more difficult for the EU to support Ukraine.
At the same time, data from the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance show that Ukraine has yet to find funding to fill an $18 billion gap in its 2026 budget.
Mudra said, "We really hope to convince our allies that this money must be used by the end of 2025 to avoid financing gaps and ensure continuity of military and macro-financial support." She said that if this is not done, Ukraine will face the risk of lacking predictable sources of financing next year.
In addition, there are differences within the EU on how Ukraine uses this money. According to EU Commission documents seen by Reuters, some European countries want the funds mainly used for European-made weapons, while others say flexibility is needed. As a compromise, the EU Commission suggested that most loans be used for Ukrainian and European weapons, with a smaller portion for general budget support.
American "Patriot" air defense system, photo
After the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict in February 2022, Western countries froze Russian state assets. According to the EU, there are currently 210 billion euros (approximately 1.75 trillion yuan) of Russian assets frozen, most of which (about 183 billion euros) are held by Euroclear, a clearing bank based in Belgium. The ownership of these assets belongs to the Russian Central Bank.
The Russia-Ukraine peace talks have been deadlocked, and the EU itself is under budget pressure, so it has long had the idea of using Russian assets.
Earlier this month, EU leaders expressed broad support for the idea of using frozen Russian assets to provide Ukraine with a $163 billion loan. The EU will further promote this plan after the meeting on the 23rd, and then the EU Commission will propose a formal legal proposal.
However, media outlets such as Reuters and European News previously pointed out that seizing and using foreign sovereign state assets has almost no precedent in international law, and has been called a "legal minefield" by many experts. According to international law, sovereign assets cannot be seized. EU diplomats also admitted that the plan needs to address many legal and technical challenges.
Additionally, according to RT, on the evening of the 22nd, Italian Prime Minister Meloni publicly warned that the EU must respect international law in any plan to use frozen Russian assets.
Russia accuses the EU of illegally seizing Russian assets and warns of retaliation.
This August, Deputy Director of the Russian Foreign Ministry's Department of Information and Press, Fadeev, said that Russia noticed that the EU Commission had allocated a new batch of fiscal aid to the Ukrainian government from the earnings of frozen Russian central bank assets, which is an escalation of economic aggression in the hybrid war against Russia by the West.
Fadeev responded that the West is trying to fabricate new false arguments to appropriate Russian assets or their management earnings, but this cannot change the criminal nature of their intentions. Russian President Putin made a clear legal characterization of the West's actions, calling it "robbery."
President Putin of Russia said last month that "smarter" governments oppose seizing Russian assets because "they understand that this move will fundamentally destroy all principles of international economic activity, undoubtedly also destroying the international financial system."
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